Exam 2 study guide key terms for each question - 1. EUROPE...

1. E UROPE – Industrial Revolution (22) Pp. 691-719 & Triumph of Nationalism (23) Pp. 721-763 Britain was the first industrial nation. Why? In your essay you must include the following factors: physical environment, the agricultural revolution, the Atlantic economy, cottage industry, government policies, the nature of capitalism, human capital, and what was unique to Britain. Between the 1780’s and 1850’s England experienced an epic transformation also known as the industrial revolution. England took the lead in the rise of capitalism, overseas expansion, and the growth of rural industry, which lead to profiting from a stable government, abundant natural resources, and a flexible labor force. Manufacturing, business, and the number of wage laborers skyrocketed, starting a trend that would continue into the first half of the 19th century. Meanwhile, technology changed: hand tools were replaced by steam- or electricity-driven machines. The economic transformation brought about by the British industrial revolution was accompanied by a social transformation as well. Population boomed, and demographics shifted. Because resources like coal and iron were in Central and Northern England, a population shift northward took place. These changes in social and demographic realities created vast pressure for political change as well. The first act to protect workers went into affect in 1802 (though in practice it did very little). The factory act of 1833 limited the factory workday for

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regulate the hours of work for children at home or in small businesses. Among the Western European countries, Britain was the ideal incubator for the Industrial Revolution because an "Agricultural Revolution" preceded it. After the “Glorious Revolution", British kings lost power and the aristocratic landholders gained power. The landholders tried to rationalize their landholdings and started the Enclosure Movement to bring more and more of their own land under tighter control. This policy had two main effects: it increased the productivity of the land, and transformed the people who used to work land into an unemployed, labor class of poor in need of work. Thus, the first factories had a ready labor- supply in Britain that was not available in other nations. Important inventions like the "Spinning Jenny" to produce yarn began to be made in 1760s, and soon the British textile industry was booming. The Enclosure movement and the British Agricultural Revolution made food production more efficient and less labor-intensive, forcing the surplus population who could no longer find employment in agriculture into cottage industry , for example weaving , and in the long term into the cities and the newly developed factories. The Industrial Revolution represented a shift in influence away from the traditional power-holders in England. Aristocratic rule was no longer supreme, for "upstart" manufacturers were now

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